WASHINGTON, May 7 (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers voiced outrageon Tuesday that the officer in charge of the Air Forceanti-sexual assault office was himself arrested on sexualbattery charges and sharply questioned Air Force leaders aboutwhether the military should keep jurisdiction over sex crimes.

Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of StaffGeneral Mark Welsh told the Senate Armed Services Committee theywere appalled by the weekend arrest, but they resisted callsfrom some lawmakers to remove prosecutions of sexual assault andrape from the military chain of command.

"Let me be clear. I am not satisfied with the progress todate (in dealing with sexual assaults)," said Senator JimInhofe, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee. "Wemust begin to eliminate this ... scourge."

The hearing came a day after Lieutenant Colonel JeffreyKrusinski, 41, was removed from his job as head of the Air ForceSexual Assault Prevention and Response Office after his arreston charges of grabbing a civilian woman by the breasts andbuttocks in a suburban Virginia parking lot near the Pentagon.

The Air Force has faced a series of embarrassing sexualassault scandals over the past year. An investigation atLackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, that began in2011 has so far turned up 59 cases of sexual assault of militaryrecruits by drill instructors.

President Barack Obama took a stand on the matter onTuesday, saying his government would step up efforts toprosecute and dishonorably discharge perpetrators of sexualassault in the U.S. military.

"Bottom line is, I have no tolerance for this," he said. "Iexpect consequences."

At the hearing, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, citing Pentagonstatistics showing a rise in sexual assaults over the past twoyears, criticized the Air Force leaders for insisting thatcommanders needed the power to determine if sexual assault casesgo to trial in order to "maintain good order and discipline."

"Obviously this is not good order and discipline," she said.

The hearing also came as Pentagon officials prepared torelease the department's annual report on sexual assault in themilitary.

The report, which is due to be released Tuesday afternoon,found that reported cases of sexual assault rose to 3,374 in2012 from 3,192 the previous year, according to briefing slidesreleased by members of Congress.

The Pentagon estimates that actual cases of unwanted sexualconduct are considerably higher. Estimated cases of unwantedsexual contact in 2012 were 26,000, compared with 19,000 in2011, according to the briefing slides.

In another high-profile case, the top general in charge ofan Air Force court martial at Aviano Air Base in Italyoverturned the sexual assault conviction of a lieutenantcolonel, threw out his one-year prison sentence and reinstatedhim to duty.

That case has prompted U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel torecommend that Congress alter the military justice system tolimit the ability of a military commander to throw outcourt-martial verdicts.

Senator Claire McCaskill told the Air Force leaders onTuesday that dismissals lie the one at Aviano went the heart ofthe problem with the military chain of command handling sexualassault cases.

"That is the crux of the problem here, because if a victimdoes not believe that the system is capable of believing her,there's no point to risking your entire career," she said.

How difficult, she asked, would it be "to have to salute theman who had been convicted by his peers of assaulting her."